Which Franking Machine?

What is the Best franking machine for my business?

Choosing the right franking machine to suit your business can be a bit of a headache.  Most Franking machine suppliers don’t like to publish their prices online so we at Ecofranking thought we’d give you a bit of help to get you started.

The first thing you need to do is work out how much mail you send and the type(s) of mail you send ie, letters, packet, parcels etc on a daily basis. Then you need to work out the savings to be made by using a franking machine - Remember the whole point about choosing to frank your mail is to make it cheaper, quicker and easier for your business.

The prices for franked mail compared to stamps can be found here and click on ‘How much can I save?’

Once you’ve done your calculations and worked out the saving you can make by franking your mail you will then need to decide which level of franking machine is going to best suit you and your business:

Low use franking machine – 10 + mail items

Medium use franking machine – 50 + mail items

High use franking machine – 350 + mail items.

Although there are only 4 manufacturers of franking machines in the UK:

Pitney Bowes, Neopost, Francotyp Postalia (FP) and FRAMA.

 There are also some franking machine resellers that rebrand the manufacturers franking machine models as their own. Essentially this means that the same franking machine can have several different names – another very, very, good reason to get several different quotes to cross reference. It is really important that you get a minimum of 3 quotes (the more the better) before signing on any dotted lines!

The Royal Mail website is a good start. It has links to all the Royal Mail authorised franking machine suppliers in the Uk, including the four manufacturers of franking machines  (if you click on the links it will take you to their products page) :

Quadient / Neopost

Pitney Bowes

Francotyp Postalia

FRAMA

Once you know which level of franking machine is going to work best for your business then you will have two options – to either LEASE or BUY your franking machine.

There are pros and cons to both but Suppliers will always push you to LEASE your machine as they basically make more money from you that way - BUT be wary of hidden leasing costs like expensive consumables, top up fees and mandatory servicing (which may or may not be included in your lease agreement)

*To give you a rough idea of what you can expect to spend:

(*Please note these are approximate figures)

Below are some examples of Low, Mid and High Volume franking machines as advertised by the 4 franking machine manufacturers. Please remember to read the specifications carefully as a mid and high volume franking machine may give you exactly the same output, but cost you more if you choose the High Volume version!

Always remember that franking your mail is supposed to save you money so don’t be caught out by having to buy expensive inks / labels or pricey logo or top up fees. There are a good range of franking machines available so take your time when deciding which franking machine is going to save your business money and whether it is best for you to lease or buy outright.

And of course we, at Ecofranking, are always here to help you.  If you’d like more information we’d love to hear from you so please give us a call on 01434 422600 or email us at sales@ecofranking.co.uk